Photo by Achmad Ibrahim via AP

 

Vietnam lodged a formal complaint on December 11 regarding Thailand's repeated display of incorrect national flags during the 2025 SEA Games. This marked the third such error since the event began. The immediate impact involves diplomatic tensions and organizational lapses that prompted Vietnam to demand corrective measures from the Games’ organizers.

 

Initial mistakes included the SEA Games Facebook page posting incorrect graphics, featuring the wrong flags for several countries, including Laos and Indonesia. Another incident occurred at the opening ceremony in Bangkok's Rajamangala National Stadium on December 9, where the wrong flag was displayed while acknowledging Indonesia's historic host role in 1997.

 

Thana Chaiprasit, head of Thailand's athletes’ delegation, confirmed Vietnam's complaint during a meeting with all participating countries. During the meeting, it was pointed out that another flag error happened at the 3x3 basketball event. Vietnam urged Thailand for a comprehensive system review to prevent further occurrences.

 

Laos joined Vietnam in their complaint, emphasizing the urgency for resolution. Malaysia also voiced concerns at the meeting, reporting inadequate halal food options and highlighting transportation delays, as well as accommodation mix-ups affecting athletes in Chiang Mai.

 

The 2025 SEA Games have been plagued by controversies, including AI-generated graphics causing confusion, erroneous gold medal counts during an opening ceremony drone show, and a lip-sync issue involving Thai-Belgian singer Violette Wautier. Furthermore, the event’s visual and lighting design sparked disputes after a Thai designer alleged his work was replaced last minute, despite extensive preparation.

 

Looking forward, the SEA Games organizers are expected to address these issues to ensure no further diplomatic and logistical mishaps. The focus will be on quickly implementing corrective actions, especially concerning flag displays, to restore confidence among participating nations, reported The Thaiger.

 

Key Takeaways

• Vietnam filed a complaint over repeated flag errors at the SEA Games.
• Laos and Malaysia also raised concerns about organizational issues.
• The SEA Games have faced multiple controversies affecting credibility.

 

Related stories:

Thailand Faces Criticism Over SEA Games Ceremony Mishaps

Thailand Grabs First Gold in SEA Games Taekwondo

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from [source] 2025-12-11

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Vietnam lodged a formal complaint on December 11 regarding Thailand's repeated display of incorrect national flags

Careful, Vietnam, or they’ll scramble the F-16s. 😗

Thailand. The hub of how not to hold events. F1 in Thailand? What could go wrong!

Not Thailand's best year, organising international events... 😂

It shows the competence of Thailand to SE Asia..Thailand want to be the hub of everything, organize many big events, but in reality they show they don't have the real experience in doing so... Thailand will loose face now

 

 

 

Man oh man...they cannot even get a flag right in this country. 

I wasn't sure what the mistakes were, so I asked AI

AI Overview

 

During the recent 33rd SEA Games in Thailand (Dec 2025),

the Vietnamese flag was not flown incorrectly (e.g., upside down), but rather, a completely different national flag was displayed in its place during certain official events. 

 

Multiple incidents involving incorrect flag and national representation occurred:

 

• During the futsal draw ceremony, the Chinese flag was mistakenly displayed instead of the Vietnamese flag.
• In graphics for a women's football match, the Vietnamese flag was shown but incorrectly labeled as "Thailand," and the Laotian flag was shown but labeled "Indonesia".
• During a men's football match between Vietnam and Laos, the national anthems did not play, leading players and coaches to sing them. 

 

"Piss up", "Brewery", and "Couldn't organize" comes to mind.

20 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

 

• During the futsal draw ceremony, the Chinese flag was mistakenly displayed instead of the Vietnamese flag.

if you want to piss off Viet Nam, that's a sure fire way to do it!!

Please do not worry everyone, Thailand will form a committee to look into the problems   😎

14 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Careful, Vietnam, or they’ll scramble the F-16s. 😗

 I doubt very much whether Vietnamese military would be afraid of any conflict with the Thai military.

 

But back to the original post - if these are the South East Asian games, why the hell do the organizers have Chinese flags, as the Chinese are not participating?  In addition, it says a lot about Thai ignorance when the Thai officials at the games do not know the flags of other SEA countries.

 

13 hours ago, SingAPorn said:

Man oh man...they cannot even get a flag right in this country. 

It's an easy mistake ....I could never get that Nazi flag

the right way up in my garden!

5 hours ago, JoePai said:

Please do not worry everyone, Thailand will form a committee to look into the problems   😎

 

And conclude there was a misunderstanding.

The lack of education in Thailand should not be underestimated.

I tried booking tickets. It reserved them for 30mins. The venue is 1hr away. Gave up. 

On 12/11/2025 at 5:49 PM, snoop1130 said:

Looking forward, the SEA Games organizers are expected to address these issues to ensure no further diplomatic and logistical mishaps.

Understandable coming from a nation that only recognises one flag

On 12/11/2025 at 10:08 PM, chickenslegs said:

"Piss up", "Brewery", and "Couldn't organize" comes to mind.

 

Not to mention, a sad reflection on Thailand's educational system, and most Thais' knowledge of, and interest in places beyond the border...

On 12/12/2025 at 11:59 AM, trucking said:

 

And conclude there was a misunderstanding.

 

Perhaps some 'outside forces' were at fault... 😆

Sad, really. And on display for all the neighbours.

 

And this is a country that wants to be taken seriously! No wonder even the incompetent little Cambodgies feel able to p..s over the frontier whenever they feel like it.

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Understandable coming from a nation that only recognises one flag

and even that is difficult.. Try to let students color the Thai Flag and see how many are coloring wrong

Typical Thai Ignorance of anything to do with the outside World.  Don't forget at Schoole they are taught that Thailand is 'The Greatest Country On Earth', so why would they care about anyone else's Flags !

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

and even that is difficult.. Try to let students color the Thai Flag and see how many are coloring wrong

Or to have students find ASEAN countries on a map.  ASEAN lessons for 2 terms and only 2 Univ. students got them correct on the final test.  83 fourth year Univ.  students.  The 2 that got them correct were Vietnamese exchange students.